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008 (Manga)
Pyunma aka 008 is an African man who was helping some of his kinsman escape being sold into slavery. He was noted for being one of the first African characters in Manga but his design included the infamous 'black face' design which remained on the character for subsequent releases until it was animated in the Super Galaxy Movie. Appearance Pyunma is a young African man with a shaved hairstyle with the cartoonish black face. After a battle against a Black Ghost robot, he was given a new body that included silver scales. Personality 008 is a serious individual who strongly disagrees with prejudice of any kind, whether against his race or people who aren't of the social norm. He highly values education, seeing it as a necessity for all people. Pyunma takes pride in his heritage and his village, at first upset that most of his body was changed with fish scales after being seriously injured (he eventually learned to live with it) and refuses to give in to people who try to control his country or village. Abilities and Powers Pyunma has cybernetic implants in his body which allow him to travel through and breathe underwater. He also has propellers in his feel which allow him to move at high speeds in the water. After a battle with Black Ghost ended with Pyunma getting severely injured, Professor Gilmore enhance his cybernetics even further by giving him scaly silver armored skin which allows him to move faster in the water. As a former guerilla, Pyunma has battle experience that the other cyborgs lack able to combat and effectively use a rifle against enemies whether it is Black Ghost or poachers. History Pyunma was originally leader of a freedom movement to free some of his villagers from human trafficing, however he was injured in battle before he was abducted by Black Ghost. He was remodeled into a cyborg and by the time 009 was completed, he and the other cyborgs escaped from Black Ghost while utilizing their abilities. 008 usually appeared whenever the team needed a frogman in the battle against Black Ghost. After the battle with the Myutos Cyborgs, 008 went back to his village once calling Joe and Francoise over when a Golden Lion was attacking his village and eventually fought off poachers until he was attacked by a robot crocodile from Black Ghost that destroyed most of his body. 009 managed to rush Pyunma's remains to Dr. Gilmore where Gilmore gave him a new body with scales of silver fish. 008 at first was a little disappointed at his new body but 004 came by and compared 008's body to his own metallic body, telling Pyunma that he should take pride in his body as he is less machine. With his confidence back, Pyunma thanks Gilmore for the new body and continues the fight against Black Ghost and other subsequent enemies. Design Controversy One of the controversial aspects of Cyborg 008 is his early blackface design. This aspect of his character persisted until the 1980s and generally makes modern fans of Ishinomori's work feel uncomfortable. Despite this, his character was more progressive than anything that was currently in comics at the time (Marvel Comic's Black Panther, the first black American superhero, would not debut for another 3 years). People familiar with history of anime and manga know that some manga artists, despite their art, are not racist. Some of manga and anime's templates are rooted firmly from American animation of the 1930s. This was the style in which Osamu Tezuka, who idolized Walt Disney, founded the modern manga industry on and traces of this style still exist in modern times. (Ex. Big oval eyes) Unfortunately, this also meant that cartoons that are now considered of poor taste such as the infamous Censored 11 were also used as examples for character design. Shotaro Ishinomori was an open minded individual, who regularly traveled around the world to take vacations and do research for his manga projects. This is simply a possible case of him having to cut a few corners to make a deadline and a product of the times as it was the Pre-Civil Rights 1960s. Category:Manga Characters Category:Cyborgs Category:Male characters